Impact of mobile health technologies on human papillomavirus vaccination uptake among mothers of unvaccinated girls aged 9-14 years in Lagos, Nigeria (mHealth-HPVac): Study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Despite the availability of effective vaccines, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake remains low in most resource-limited settings including Nigeria. Mobile health technology (mHealth) may empower patients to control their health, reduce inequalities, and improve the uptake of HPV vaccination. Aim: The "mHealth-HPVac" study will assess the effects of mHealth using short text messages on the uptake of HPV vaccination among mothers of unvaccinated girls aged 9-14 years and also determine the factors influencing the uptake of HPV vaccination among these mothers. Methods: This protocol highlights a randomised controlled trial involving women aged 25-65 years who will be enrolled on attendance for routine care at the General Outpatient clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria between July and December 2024. At baseline, n=224 women will be randomised to either a short text message or usual care (control) arm. The primary outcome is vaccination of the participant's school-age girl(s) at any time during the 6 months of follow-up. The associations between any two groups of continuous variables will be tested using the independent sample t-test (normal distribution) or the Mann-Whitney U test (skewed data) and that of two groups of categorical variables with Chi-square (X2) or Fisher's exact test where appropriate. Using the multivariable binary logistic regression model, we will examine the effects of all relevant sociodemographic and clinical variables on HPV vaccination uptake among mothers of unvaccinated but vaccine-eligible school-age girls. Statistical significance will be defined as A P<0.05. Discussion: The mHealth-Cervix study will evaluate the impact of mobile technologies on HPV vaccination uptake among mothers of unvaccinated but vaccine-eligible school-age girls in Lagos, Nigeria as a way of contributing to the reduction in the wide disparities in cervical cancer incidence through primary prevention facilitated using health promotion to improve HPV vaccination uptake. Registration: PACTR202406727470443 (6th June 2024).

Impact of mobile health technologies on human papillomavirus vaccination uptake among mothers of unvaccinated girls aged 9-14 years in Lagos, Nigeria (mHealth-HPVac): study protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Despite the availability of effective vaccines, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake remains low in most resource-limited settings including Nigeria. Mobile health technology (mHealth) has the potential to empower patients to manage their health, reduce health disparities, and enhance the uptake of HPV vaccination. AIM: The "mHealth-HPVac" study will assess the effects of mHealth using short text messages on the uptake of HPV vaccination among mothers of unvaccinated girls aged 9-14 years and also determine the factors influencing the uptake of HPV vaccination among these mothers. METHODS: This protocol highlights a randomised controlled trial involving women aged 25-65 years who will be enrolled on attendance for routine care at the General Outpatient clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria between July and December 2024. At baseline, n = 123 women will be randomised to either a short text message or usual care (control) arm. The primary outcome is vaccination of the participant's school-age girl(s) at any time during the 6 months of follow-up. The associations between any two groups of continuous variables will be assessed using the independent sample t-test for normally distributed data, or the Mann-Whitney U test for skewed data. For two groups of categorical variables, the Chi-square (X2) test or Fisher's exact test will be used, as appropriate. Using the multivariable binary logistic regression model, we will examine the effects of all relevant sociodemographic and clinical variables on HPV vaccination uptake among mothers of unvaccinated but vaccine-eligible school-age girls. Statistical significance will be reported as P < 0.05. DISCUSSION: The mHealth-Cervix study will evaluate the impact of mobile technologies on HPV vaccination uptake among mothers of unvaccinated but vaccine-eligible school-age girls in Lagos, Nigeria as a way of contributing to the reduction in the wide disparities in cervical cancer incidence through primary prevention facilitated using health promotion to improve HPV vaccination uptake. REGISTRATION: PACTR202406727470443 (6th June 2024).

Survival outcomes following interval versus primary debulking surgery in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer: A retrospective cohort study in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

Background: There is conflicting evidence regarding the survival benefit of interval debulking surgery (IDS) compared to conventional treatment with primary debulking surgery (PDS) in women with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Objectives: We compared the survivals following PDS followed by adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) versus IDS after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in women with advanced EOC at the gynaecological oncology unit of a tertiary referral centre in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. Methods: The data of 126 women with advanced EOC who had standard treatment with either PDS and ACT or NACT and IDS between January 2008 and December 2017 were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier estimates of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) time stratified by the types of upfront debulking surgery were calculated and compared by employing the log-rank test statistics. Cox proportional hazard models were then used to estimate hazard ratios of the association between the type of surgical debulking and survivals while adjusting for all necessary covariates. Results: We recorded no statistically significant differences in PFS (adjusted hazard ratio=1.28, 95% confidence interval 0.82-2.01, P=0.282) and OS (adjusted hazard ratio=1.23, 95% confidence interval 0.68-2.25, P=0.491) between IDS and PDS among women with advanced EOC. Conclusions: There is a need for a larger prospective multicenter study to further compare the impact of upfront surgical debulking types on the survival of women with advanced EOC in our setting. In the meantime, giving interval debulking surgery after a few courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be an acceptable standard of care for women with advanced EOC.